Conventional approaches to using and retrieving large sets of data are often problematic. Computing devices with limited memory, for example, cannot store all of a large set of data at once. Current approaches break the data into separate chunks but, in so doing, cause these computing devices to perform poorly when they retrieve new chunks of data.
Another issue with large sets of data involves distributing data intended for display. Current approaches for distributing sets of data distribute data and formatting information together, which increases the amount of information distributed. Further, these approaches, whether for large or small sets of data, also require a source of the data to know of the computing device's display capabilities and process the data into a displayable format prior to distributing the data to the computing device.
Some other approaches for displaying sets of data require the computing device to include custom script to download the data and format it into a displayable format. This custom script may require modification and maintenance and be cumbersome when the provider of the data is not the same entity as the administrator of the computing device.